Well, we know from past presidents that the best response to either a real or perceived blow to the prestige of the United States is to unleash hell. Just days after the fall of Saigon in 1975, President Gerald Ford saw an uptick in his flagging popularity by sending troops to retake the Mayaguez, despite the fact that 21 Americans were killed or lost and the crew they were sent to rescue had already been released. And questions still linger about whether Ronald Reagan's 1983 assault in Grenada was influenced by the tragic loss of 230 U.S. Marines in Lebanon two days earlier.

So I wasn't shocked, or particular awed, to see that the Obama administration is now about to drop the big one...on the moon!

NASA will tomorrow launch a spectacular mission to bomb the Moon. Their LCROSS mission will blast off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying a missile that will blast a hole in the lunar surface at twice the speed of a bullet.

The missile, a Centaur rocket, will be steered by a shepherding spacecraft that will guide it towards its target - a crater close to the Moon's south pole.

Scientists expect the blast to be so powerful that a huge plume of debris will be ejected.

But America insists that it comes in peace:

The attack on the Moon is not a declaration of war or act of wanton vandalism. Space scientists want to see if any water ice or vapour is revealed in the cloud of debris.

Yeah, right -- that's what Cheney said back in 2003. Just remember the Pottery Barn principle, Mr. President. If you break the moon, you buy it.